Since its inception by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 by nailing a bottomless peach basket to a balcony, the object of basketball is to score a goal by shooting a basketball through a basketball hoop. Scoring proficiency requires a great deal of practice. A variety of inventions have been introduced in recent years to aid in training of basketball players.
Size reducer type inventions force the shooter to improve accuracy in order to make the ball pass through an effectively smaller hoop. An example of a size reducer type invention is U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,059 Owen May 3, 1994. However, these inventions do not offer other features, such as returning the ball to the shooter.
Chute type inventions overcome this shortcoming. Chute inventions are, in general, of one of three categories. The first category returns balls along a line radiating from the center of the hoop. These devices will be referred to as chute only inventions. Examples of these are: U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,638 Luebkeman Mar. 23, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,090 Juhl Mar. 24, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,680 Cass Feb. 24, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,290 Matherne Sep. 20, 1994. None of these chute only inventions can be quickly redirected to address the whole court. Nor do any of them reduce the size of the hoop. All of them require a ladder for installation.
The second category of chutes has some sort of quick redirecting mechanism. These will be referred to as rotatable chutes. These allow the line along which the balls return to be changed by the user redirecting the chute by hand. Thus the shooter may practice shots from all over the court. Examples of this type of invention are U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,101 Farkas Jan. 19, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,539 Knapp Jun. 6, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,814 Manning Feb. 9, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,211 Adamek Dec. 27, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,258 Kinsella Dec. 6, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,826 de Abreu Nov. 3, 1998. None of these rotatable chute inventions will work with the previously mentioned chute-only mechanisms. None of them fold up small for easy transportation and storage. None have the smooth rotation as that offered by ball bearings.
With one exception all of the rotatable chutes require a ladder to be installed. The exception Adamek U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,211 gets around the use of a ladder by attaching to the net. Besides requiring a net to be used, performance suffers in that the invention can easily be made to sway and is designed specifically not to freely rotate via the use of grooves or notches to prevent rotation. Hence extra time is needed to reposition the chute. Because it attaches to the net it is relatively close to the ground such that a player may knock his head or shoulder on it. It interferes with the play area.
De Abreu U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,088 uses ropes. These ropes interfere with the court and may cause players to trip or fall.
The third category of chutes sits in the basketball court rather than hanging from the basketball goal. These are large, thus difficult to transport and store and interfere with the playing area.
Accordingly, several objects of the present invention are:
to provide a means by which chute only devices can address the whole court;
to provide a means by which the device can be taken on and off the basketball goal without a ladder;
to provide a means by which the device can fold into a compact size for easy transport and storage.
Additional embodiments are disclosed which provide further objects and advantages which are:
to provide a means to reduce the effective size of the basketball hoop thus requiring better aim by the shooter.
to provide an attachable chute that can be folded for easy transportation and storage and reduces the overall weight due to the removal of the facsimile hoop.
to provide a means whereby the device will not interfere with the top surface of the basketball goal and thus does not interfere with balls striking the top surface of the basketball goal while being firmly connected to the goal. This maintains a game-like performance of the basketball goal while still providing beneficial training features.
to provide a means that makes theft of the device more difficult.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
A device is presented which provides a rotatable facsimile hoop just beneath the basketball goal. To this facsimile hoop, chute-only devices can be attached which otherwise cannot quickly be adjusted to return balls to any area of the court. The device includes a bearing containing ball bearings for smooth rotation. This device is held to the goal by means of hooks. These hooks are shaped to allow attachment to and removal from the goal without the use of a ladder by means of a shepherds crook. The hooks are attached to the bearing by means of latching hinges that latch when folded down. Thus the hooks will not move out of place when folded. The device is thus a relatively rigid and compact assembly when folded for transportation. There are not any hooks sticking up or flopping about to catch on things or unattached pieces to lose. This will be called the initial embodiment.
Two additional embodiments are presented. In the first additional embodiment the size of the facsimile goal is smaller making it harder for shots to be made.
In the second additional embodiment the bearing attaches directly to the basketball goal support. This embodiment offers no interference with the top of the goal that is critical to maintaining a true basketball-game like performance of the device. Rather than attaching via hooks as in the first embodiment, it is permanently attached to the goal via the goal support. This makes it more difficult to steal.
The second additional embodiment has no facsimile hoop and in its place an attachable folding chute is also disclosed. This chute can be attached to and removed from the bearing without a ladder by means of a shepherd's crook shaped differently than the first embodiment. The chute folds up small for easy transport and storage.